A group of California health care workers have been fired after sharing a TikTok video that mocked patients in urgent-care exam rooms, sparking widespread outrage online.
The since-deleted clip, filmed inside Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara, showed employees posing with bodily fluids left behind on the paper coverings of exam tables.
Captions over the images invited viewers to “guess the substance,” while staff smiled and gave thumbs-up gestures, The Independent reports.
Disturbing video sparks backlash at Santa Barbara clinic
In one image, a worker hovered over a small stain on an exam table with the caption: “Are patients allowed to leave you guys gifts?”
Another showed a different employee sticking her tongue out next to a larger mark, with the text: “All shapes and sizes.”
The final image shows multiple employees clustered around another exam table with a stain with the caption: “Make sure you leave your healthcare workers sweet gifts like these!”
Though the original TikTok was deleted and the user’s account set to private, screen recordings quickly circulated across social media.
Reddit users on the local forum r/SantaBarbara amplified the clip, where it generated more than 1,000 comments within hours.
Many condemned the staff for their “dehumanizing” and “unethical” behavior.
One commenter, identifying as a nurse, said the footage left her “speechless,” adding: “This is unprofessional and unethical. Patients deserve dignity, not ridicule.”
Another wrote that they intended to report the video directly to Sutter Health executives, vowing the employees would “rue the day they posted this dehumanizing garbage.”
Sutter Health responded quickly
Sansum Clinic, which is affiliated with nonprofit health care giant Sutter Health, quickly addressed the controversy.
In a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday, the clinic said: “Patient trust and dignity are always our top priority and any behavior that violates those standards is unacceptable.”
Sutter Health confirmed the firings in a statement to KTLA, noting that all employees involved (including the individual who originally posted the video) were no longer with the organization.
The spokesperson described the incident as “deeply concerning” and said a full internal review was underway.
According to the network, the person who uploaded the video had already left Sansum Clinic two months earlier, but was joined in the footage by staff who were still employed at the facility.
Viral fallout
The TikTok was originally posted by a user under the handle @angieuncut, according to the Santa Barbara Independent.
Despite being deleted shortly afterward, the video was widely shared across platforms including Reddit, X, and Instagram.
For Sansum Clinic and Sutter Health, the scandal highlights the growing risks of social media misuse by medical staff, and the swift consequences for those who cross professional boundaries.